Improving Vehicle Handling Stability Performance via Integrated Control of Active Front Steering and Suspension Systems

This paper proposes an integrated vehicle dynamics control system that aims to enhance vehicles handling stability and safety performance by coordinating active front steering (AFS) and active suspension systems (ASS). The integrated controller design is based on the lateral stability region described by phase plane approach that is employed to bound the vehicle stability and coordinate AFS and ASS. When the vehicle reaches the handling limits and the vehicle states go outside the lateral stability region under extreme steering maneuvers, the integrated controller uses both AFS and ASS collaborate together to improve vehicle handling stability. The simulation results using Matlab/Simulink-Carsim show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.